Restoring the Land - An Interview with Susan Freeman

Aldo Leopold, in A Sand County Almanac, described his family's efforts to restore their land to its natural state. Leopold's granddaughter, Susan Freeman, a piano teacher in Seattle, inherited that land ethic. When offered the chance to help restore a watershed on Western Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Susan and her husband Scott dug right in. Working to restore the five-mile-long Tarboo Creek, they've planted more than 10,000 trees so far. What could you do to help the natural world? Find a project near you.

Aldo Leopold, in his ground-breaking work A Sand County Almanac, described his family’s efforts to restore their land to its natural state. Leopold’s granddaughter, Susan Freeman, a piano teacher in Seattle, inherited that land ethic.

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When offered the chance to help restore a watershed on Western Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Susan and her husband Scott couldn’t wait to dig in.

Together with fellow land-owner Peter Bahls, the Freemans are restoring the five-mile-long Tarboo Creek. They’ve planted more than 10,000 trees so far.

Planting a tree to me represents being able to do something for future generations, the way my grandfather and my father have done for my generation and my kids. And that means so much to me – to see what they’ve done and how much better the land is that my grandfather had bought, originally as a sandhill farm, where everything was devastated by the overproduction of corn. And now it’s this lovely pine forest.

And also the most special thing is to have our kids be able to do it with us. And so they’re part of that process and maybe they’ll want to pass that on and do that with their children.

Earth Day is tomorrow. What could you do to help the natural world? You needn’t go far. There’s probably a project near you. Learn more at BirdNote.org. ###